


Second Chances

by chocobobutt, Firalyx



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, bad ending to a happy one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 03:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11394357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocobobutt/pseuds/chocobobutt, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firalyx/pseuds/Firalyx
Summary: It wasn't supposed to be like this. Everything was fucked up. Noctis was on his way to death, Prompto not far behind after being riddled with machine gun bullets and bleeding out fast from the deep neck wound, and now..."Ignis..."





	Second Chances

_ ‘Iggy, when this is all over let’s have a drink together.’ _ Gentle words of hope for a possible good ending to this nightmare were what kept replaying in the advisors mind. Many things besides that kept him standing and fighting but the more exhausted he got the more of a mess of memories they all become. Gladio’s words were the only thing that didn’t seem to fade in the chaos of the final battle. 

The Iron giants weren't impossible to fight. It was when other daemons and terrors started to show up that things were difficult. Despite the overgrowth on streets and rubble, everything was much smoother than the grass, dirt or sand that he was now accustomed to fighting on. He'd slipped a few times, more than he'd like to admit which had led to some careless mistakes and minor wounds. It wasn't till he heard a roar behind him and a shriek from prompto that everything seemed to slow down. Ignis thought he felt the cold embrace of death years ago, but now he truly felt it.

The rain was letting up, at least from what he could feel it was. He wondered right now if there were many clouds in the sky, were they parting and finally starting to let the sunlight in? He was cold, too cold to feel any warmth in that case and his whole world was still just as dark. He knew Noctis was still fighting Ardyn and hoped he was winning, it was all they could do but hope as they protected him, or had in Ignis' case.   
  
The rubble he had fallen on was hard, bothering his back but the longer he laid there the less it seemed to hurt. The feeling in his hands was starting to go as well. He heard footsteps coming near him, grabbing for the dagger he knew was at his side but dropping it once he heard his name called. _Gladio_. 

No, he didn’t want Gladio near him, he didn’t want him to find him like this. He had hoped a daemon would come along and finish him off, maybe even make his body unrecognizable. 

The wounds on his chest and back were bleeding out, he knew that, could feel them. He tried to lift his arm, covering the one on his chest to maybe let the blow of seeing him like this lessen for his dearest friend. When he felt those big calloused arms on his back, lifting him gently he felt his eyes watering up. He wasn't ready to do this, he wasn’t ready for goodbye.

"Gladio..." His voice cracked as he spoke. He tried to clear his throat but felt like he had a lump in his throat. He grabbed for Gladio's arm, holding on as tight as he could in his current state.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. Everything was fucked up. Noctis was on his way to death, Prompto not far behind after being riddled with machine gun bullets and bleeding out fast from the deep neck wound, and now..."Ignis..." he gasped, tears welling quickly because it really  _ wasn't supposed to end like this. _ Looking at him, even as he was surely dying in his arms, he was still as beautiful as the day he first saw him. He dug in his pocket and crushed a potion to Ignis' chest frantically. Nothing. He crushed another one. Again.  _ One _ more. Nothing changed. The wound on his chest was still wide open, bleeding out. This would be the second time Gladio failed to save him. 

"Please don't leave me. I can't do this alone, Iggy." He keeps his voice as steady as he can as tears fall onto Ignis's arm. "Everyone is gone... you're all I have. You promised...we promised to drink together." There was a pause in his speech, trying to compose himself in front of his friend. 

"Don’t Gladio...don’t cry." Ignis' own voice was slipping unsteadily. He reached for the man holding him. "Are...are they both truly gone? Is the sun at least shining once more?” Barriers he long held onto broke as he asked, for the second time tears were shed in Gladio’s company. He turned in his hold, moving closer to Gladio to hold onto him. His grip on Gladio's uniform tightened and he pressed his face against that chest he had often dreamed of being held against. "I’m sorry...I’ll have to postpone our drink." The tears came on more as he started to cough. His fit lasted a moment before he mumbled against the heavy fabric of Gladio's uniform. Knowing the other couldn't hear him well and he had such little time left, he said it again. "I love you. I've loved you for so many years.”

"No," Gladio growled, gripping the man in his arms tightly, "no,  _ no _ ,  _ no _ !" He grasped his hand - _ so cold _ \- and squeezed tightly. He's torn apart, Ignis's words like a knife through his heart. For so long, Gladio was open with his feelings for Ignis - flashbacks of confessions, gentle touches, asking for a chance -  _ just one chance _ \- to prove himself to the advisor. He knew why Ignis always denied him, he knew how devoted Ignis was to Noctis. And now here he was, telling him the words he prayed to the Six he'd hear, but he didn't want it to be like this.    
"I love you, Iggy. Please... you can't do this.. you can't do this to me. Why? Why didn't you..." he can't finish. His mind panicking, his hand pressing now on his wound and looking around now for something -  _ anything _ \- that will staunch the bleeding.

The pressure to his stomach had him coughing and grasping more for Gladio. He reached up, wishing he could see his face and pulled him close. His hands felt out Gladio's face, memorizing all of him. A graze over his heavy brows, the scar cutting through one from so long ago. He traced it down over his eye and too his cheek, rubbing his thumb against his slightly aged skin.He ignored Gladio’s question, there was no reason to tell him why now. "So handsome, but you always were." A saddened smile came over him as he pushed up with his free hand to sit up. It was a bad idea and he knew that. His stomach felt like it would spill but Gladio's pressure stopped that from happening. He felt how warm Gladio was and pressed their foreheads together. "I wish I could see your face once more.” He leaned in more until their noses pressed and their lips hovered close. "Do you know how long I wished to kiss you? From the moment we first sparred together, when you so easily flipped me like I was nothing. I had been so confident in my abilities and you bested me like it was nothing. No one had ever challenged me like you." He pressed their lips together, a cold and gentle kiss. It had his heartbeat quickening, the blood in his wound starting to flow more.

Gladio returned the bittersweet kiss, a pained noise leaving him as he wrapped his arms around him tightly. A bloodied hand grasped the glasses Ignis wore to hide his scars and threw them aside to kiss him fully. All the words hurt. Everything Ignis said made tears fall faster, made his heart ache, and his body weak. "You're the only one," he breathes when he finally pulls away. "The only one I've ever loved, Iggy. You can't leave me now. Not now." He gets desperate, popping elixir now and hoping to the six it will work. It doesn't. Not the first, the second or the third. He sobbed and clutched him, kissing him again and again. "Ignis, _please_ ," he begs, dropping the nickname this time and knowing that nothing is going to help at this point. He caresses his face, fingers tracing his scar. "Will you wait for me...?"  
  
"Always, I’d wait another lifetime for you." His own tears wouldn't stop, disappointed in himself for not being able to be strong enough to hold them in. His face lingered into the touch, placing his own hand on top of the one so tenderly holding him. "...I'm sorry Gladio, I was looking forward to sharing that drink. I failed you."   
  
Tears fall freely now as he slowly starts to accept Ignis' eventual death. "You didn't fail, Ignis. You did what was best for us all." He says softly as he brushes his hair back tenderly. "You did everything you could." His voice hitches a bit as he cries and mourns, watching the color start to drain from his face. "I'm so sorry, Ignis. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you the first time. I'm sorry I can't save you now. Please forgive me. If I could give my life to save you now, I'd do it. I'd do it in a heartbeat." He says, wiping his eyes when his vision gets blurry, needing to _see_ him, kissing him often for as long as Ignis is alive to kiss him back.

"Don’t be a fool." Each kiss and touch grew colder despite Gladio's warm touch. He knew he was fading fast and for a moment he hoped he'd get his vision back so once he'd get to see Gladio's face but the Six were a merciless group. He felt a heat only on his head, something not coming from Gladio but from afar. The rain was stopping and he knew that Noctis would be waiting now. "I can...feel the light." He smiled,resting his head against Gladio's chest and closed his eyes for one last time.

Gladio held him, cradled him against his chest. He grit his teeth as tears fall, looking up at the sun rising he screamed at it and curses it through his tears, wanting darkness to swallow him up. A look at Prompto confirmed his fear for their younger friend; he's lying in a large pool of blood, not moving and pale. He's never felt so alone in his life. So helpless, afraid, and terribly  _ lonely _ .    


He hugs Ignis hard then, crying and sobbing against his cold neck, "I love you, Ignis. I'm coming... I'll be there soon..." he whispered even though his own voice was all he could hear against the last drops of rain. He has every intention to take his own life, even looking up and around for Ignis's daggers. It’s not far and he takes it, holding the heavy weapon against his neck. It’d be easy to slice his jugular and bleed out to join his brothers in arms and the love of his life.

_ ‘Make it quick…’ _ he thinks and he has plans to but he thinks of Iris. He thinks of her finding him dead, throat slashed, knowing it was self-inflicted. He doesn't want to abandon her. He doesn't want her to feel abandoned either. But still....He grips the handle, kneeling there, crying still and moving Ignis to lie on his back before fixing his hair, cleaning dirt off his face and resting his arms on his stomach, placing one hand over the other. He plants a kiss to his forehead and stands, dagger still in hand. He walks over to Prompto and sets the dagger down long enough to do the same to the blonde, wanting them both to look peaceful in their death.

 The dawn sun is blinding. He hates it. It's too bright. Everything is vivid in color and it makes him angry and bitter. He roams the streets of Insomnia like a zombie, eyes lifeless as one hand hangs, dagger in hand and the other hand presses his side where he's wounded, bleeding from where shrapnel had snagged him. His thoughts go back and forth from taking his own life and living for Iris. Sometimes his thoughts stray as Ignis's words echo in his mind. Every confession, every word on repeat...  
  


_  "I wish I could see your face again." _   
  


_          "...I'd wait another lifetime..." _   
  


If only there was a way he could have granted his last wish. Given his eyesight back for just a moment. Or to save him from losing his sight all together. Go back to the past and-- 

The idea hits him hard, makes him gasp, energy renewed as thoughts of the shaggy black and white dog enter his mind, Gentiana telling Noctis about the dog's abilities to--  
He sheathed the dagger for now and runs, lungs tight as he searches for dog, running down every alley, every street, climbing over rubble, slipping through the broken walls of the citadel.   


"UMBRA!" He screams, voice hoarse and strained, swallowing hard as he screams the dog's name again. He searches the Citadel, everywhere he can crawl or climb, all the while calling out for Umbra desperately. It's his only shot. He has to try to find him. The dog is his last hope. He searches blindly, focused and determined until finally, he hears a soft whimper behind him. He stops cold and turns, and there he is - blue bandanna around his left leg, the blue rope around his body and the notebook secured. Knowing dark eyes gaze at Gladio curiously, sitting and staring.

"Umbra," he kneels, rubble digging into his knees, his side aching and throbbing with pain but he ignores it all to reach out to the dog. "Take me back. Umbra,  _ please _ . I-I know... I know I'm not Noctis... but please. I just want to see him again. Ignis. I want him to see me. Just for a little while. Please. I'll give you anything you want.  _ Anything _ ... please... take me back..." he begs shamelessly, hands petting the dog, smoothing his fur back. "Please let me see him again."    


The dog looks at him, but Gladio can't tell if he's going to grant his wish or if he  _ can _ . For a moment Gladio believes he might have just wasted time talking to a dog. Minutes pass before Umbra moves, barking and motioning for the notebook on his back. Quickly, Gladio retrieves it, opens it to a blank page and ignores the pain in his side when he moves quickly. Umbra scratches at the paper, uncovering words that seemed to be buried within the blank page.

_ Two weeks. The past is not yours to change. Your current memories will start to fade in the past and will be gone when you return. Only memories remaining will be up until your last day in the past. _

"Two weeks." Gladio says softly, stopping to catch his breath and taking a moment to piece it together. "You'll take me back for two weeks?" Umbra barks. Gladio's heart pounds. It scares him to know that he won't remember anything, that he will wake up after two weeks with only memories of his new past with years blanked out. He thinks of Ignis, dead and blind - he doesn't want to remember that ever. 

"Okay. Take me back. Before Altissia."

There was a blinding light that came from Umbra's eyes, the light spread all around them until there was darkness. Everything was quiet for some time.    
  


_          ‘Gladi….’ _ _  
_

 

_                                 ‘Gladio…. _

 

"Gladiolus?" A voice called, a familiar accented voice. It was one he'd heard many for many years now but younger, not exactly as he had just remembered it.  
"Gladiolus, are you alright?" Again the voice sounded as a warmth came into the darkness. The warmth spread and then light came into play. A blinding light that faded into a bright blue sky that was partly clouded. The sound of cars were not to far away either and birds chirping. Trees were here and there along the pathway around gates that surrounded well-off homes in them. In the middle of it all stood Ignis, looking right up at Gladio. His hair was nearly covering his eyes, textbooks in his hands and his blazerless suit buttoned up to his neck. "Gladiolus you're worrying me. Need I take you to the hospital?" Ignis looked away, shifting the books in his arms to one side as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed it against Gladio's forehead. "I swear one of these days you are going to work yourself to the bone. No wonder Noctis is always so tired after his training sessions, you are hardly faring any better than he."  
  
Gladio blinked once. Twice. His eyes darting frantic around the map of Ignis' face. He can feel him looking back at him and not through him, the color in his face is back and his cheeks soft pink from the sun. His hair... soft, unstyled, and brushing along the rim of his glasses. 

-Those eyes.

There was no cloudiness to hide those beautiful eyes, there was no scar.

Was he dreaming? Or was... how... but-- Images of fallen Lucis flicker in his thoughts. 

 

Noctis.

 

Blood. 

 

Alone. 

 

The Dagger.

 

Umbra.    


_           "Take me back. Before Altissia." _   


It all floods into his mind, overwhelming him, Gladio squeezing his eyes shut and open again, Ignis still staring at him. Umbra took him too far... too far back. He was 18 again and Ignis is...  _ alive _ .   


He can't help it. He reaches out to him and hugs him tightly, Gladio's books hitting the floor as he hugs him, fear that he'd disappear. "Iggy..."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading the prologue to me and Firalyx's story! This is a rp we had going on for a very long time now and we decided to turn it into a story since we thought it had a really nice plot. We hope you enjoy it and any comments would be much appreciated! <3 <3 <3 <3


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